Hippo Talks: The Many Faces of Leslie Banks

Speaker Les Barker

Leslie Banks was a stalwart of British stage and screen throughout the 1930s and 40s. He had a great range from hero to villain and back again. His most celebrated film roles were as the hero of Hitchcock's first version of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1933), Sanders in Sanders of the River with Paul Robeson (1935), the British Nazi in Went The Day Well (1942) and as the Chorus in Olivier's Henry V (1944).

  He was born in Liverpool and educated in Scotland. He served in the First World War and suffered a severe wound to his face which he used to great effect during his acting career. He died in 1952.